By Benedict Ng’etich
All genuine new set books approved by KICD (2017-2021) have been given security tags on the covers in an effort to stamp out piracy.
An official of the Kenya Publishers Association (KPA) Timothy Muita advised readers to be checking on the security tags dubbed “CHKTAG” which they should scratch to verify.
He said, “ upon purchase, scratch the panel on the cover to reveal a sixteen PIN number, then send an SMS of the pin number to 22776 (Free of Charge).An SMS will be received instantly confirming if the book is genuine or not. If the book is not genuine, kindly return to the bookseller and demand a refund.”
Thuita said the move was introduced in an effort to stem piracy which was ripping off the industry to the tune of millions.
He was speaking at the Kericho Moi Gardens during an exhibition held by the Kenya Publishers Association (KPA) whose theme was “Books for Nurturing Skills,”.It attracted 36 exhibitors.
He said publishers were currently working on Competency Based Curriculum which has been approved by the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD.)
The Chief Guest said he appreciated the role played currently by publishers in delivering books timely to schools unlike in the past when some of them were accused of abetting corruption by colluding with school heads to defraud schools.
He reminded them that the quality of education will be determined by the quality of reading materials developed and delivered to the students.
He said the element of quality is a response to Sustainable Development Goal (STG No 4) ;Quality Education for all.
The education official challenged everybody to develop a reading culture for life and not reading to pass examinations.
The new curriculum is the hottest subject among publishers at the moment, even as questions over payment and delivery of books to schools remain unanswered.
Many publishers bid for tenders, opened in September 2017-to supply books. By December only books by 27 publishers were approved. Participants heard that in line with the desire to achieve education for all, the Ministry of Education has partnered with the World Bank to improve equity, and access to quality education in a programme dubbed Secondary Education Quality Improvement Project (SEQIP).
This project is also meant to improve current skills gap in the quality of teaching.
SEQIP has turned out to be a huge business opportunity for Kenyan publishers, whose revenue had started to shrink as the implementation of the new competency based curriculum had rendered obsolete books in ECDE, Standard 1, 2 and 3.
Also lack of access to high quality textbooks had been identified as a contributor to poor learning outcomes.
